Design and Validation of Reflector Elements to Increase the Radar Cross-Section of Small Drones

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Main Authors: Ganau Sánchez, Alex, Vico Navarro, Joaquin, Morcillo-Pallarés, Pablo, Balbastre Tejedor, Juan Vicente
Format: Recurso digital
Language:English
Published: Zenodo 2023
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author Ganau Sánchez, Alex
Vico Navarro, Joaquin
Morcillo-Pallarés, Pablo
Balbastre Tejedor, Juan Vicente
author_facet Ganau Sánchez, Alex
Vico Navarro, Joaquin
Morcillo-Pallarés, Pablo
Balbastre Tejedor, Juan Vicente
contents <p>In the next few years, the use of drones for civilian applications is expected to skyrocket, leading to a multitude of new use cases. However, the possible improper use of drones generates doubts in the population due to the risks it poses to the safety and security of airspace operations. Having absolute surveillance of unmanned aircraft is quite difficult for several reasons, e.g., problems arise when monitoring small drones due to their reduced radar signature, around -10 dBm<sup>2</sup>, which makes them practically imperceptible to Air Traffic Control (ATC) radars, which can rarely detect targets with radar cross-sections (RCSs) below 0 dBm<sup>2</sup>. For instance, a possible solution to mitigate the lack of identification and thus avoid problems specially in Control Traffic Region (CTR) zones is to increase the RCSs of the drones by incorporating a reflector element that could produce much more intense radar echoes than the drone itself. The aim of this paper is to design and evaluate a Luneburg lens through electromagnetic (EM) simulation and validate its performance experimentally by conducting flight tests in open space with a commercial drone carrying the manufactured reflector making use of a 24 GHz radar.</p>
format Recurso digital
id zenodo_https___doi_org_10_2528_PIERC22092003
institution Zenodo
language eng
publishDate 2023
publisher Zenodo
record_format zenodo
spellingShingle Design and Validation of Reflector Elements to Increase the Radar Cross-Section of Small Drones
Ganau Sánchez, Alex
Vico Navarro, Joaquin
Morcillo-Pallarés, Pablo
Balbastre Tejedor, Juan Vicente
<p>In the next few years, the use of drones for civilian applications is expected to skyrocket, leading to a multitude of new use cases. However, the possible improper use of drones generates doubts in the population due to the risks it poses to the safety and security of airspace operations. Having absolute surveillance of unmanned aircraft is quite difficult for several reasons, e.g., problems arise when monitoring small drones due to their reduced radar signature, around -10 dBm<sup>2</sup>, which makes them practically imperceptible to Air Traffic Control (ATC) radars, which can rarely detect targets with radar cross-sections (RCSs) below 0 dBm<sup>2</sup>. For instance, a possible solution to mitigate the lack of identification and thus avoid problems specially in Control Traffic Region (CTR) zones is to increase the RCSs of the drones by incorporating a reflector element that could produce much more intense radar echoes than the drone itself. The aim of this paper is to design and evaluate a Luneburg lens through electromagnetic (EM) simulation and validate its performance experimentally by conducting flight tests in open space with a commercial drone carrying the manufactured reflector making use of a 24 GHz radar.</p>
title Design and Validation of Reflector Elements to Increase the Radar Cross-Section of Small Drones
url https://doi.org/10.2528/PIERC22092003